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The fetal matrix argues that the questions to be answered will require a multidisciplinary approach and commitment as great as that for unravelling the human genome or sorting out particle physics two questions at a practical level seem especially pressing. The fetal matrix is a lucid detailed and comprehensive account of the fetal environments effects on health disease and mortality in the middle and later years of the human life cycle it is the product of years of fertile research collaboration between its distinguished authors. Many of the readers of evolution development will be aware of evolutionary medicine in the guise of evolutionary psychol ogy another revolutionary approach to medicine is under way however it . The fetal matrix concludes with a call for an increased emphasis on the importance of female health before and during pregnancy with improved female literacy and education and therefore hopefully avoidance of teenage pregnancy and nutrition it therefore sends a message to research funding councils of the potential importance of this area . There is also an international council for research into the fetal origins of adult disease and the third international congress on developmental origins of health and disease will be held in toronto in november 2005